PHOTOS: Opening Day Heifer Parade at Shaker Village

Cows file past the crowds during the Opening Day Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Crowds wait for the Heifer Parade to begin at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013.

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Luke Mahoney runs while leading his farm's cows into the pasture during the Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Tory Dodge greets visitors at one of the entrances to Shaker Village before their Opening Day Heifer Parade at in Canterbury on May 4, 2013. Dodge, a volunteer, fashioned her headwear from her father's bowler hat and her daughter's cow puppet.

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Maddie Hebert, 5, chose a butterfly as one of the items for her flower crown. Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Amelia Hoven, 5, runs back to meet her family after playing. Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Ribbons are chosen before the maypole dance, which was accompanied by the music of the Two Fiddles and the Fiddling Thomsons, at the Opening Day Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

The maypole dance, which was accompanied by the music of the Two Fiddles and the Fiddling Thomsons, at the Opening Day Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013

(ANDREA MORALES / Monitor staff)

Lily Payne, 4, and her brother Jakob, 7, hang on the tractor that was a part of the Opening Day Heifer Parade at Shaker Village in Canterbury, May 4, 2013. The Payne kids' parents work at Brookford Farm and sat on the tractor tossing daffodils to the crowd during the parade.

The idea just mushroomed, said Funi Burdick, the executive director at Shaker Village. Following last year’s popularity with visitors, the Brookford Farm cows that come to graze on the spring grass were given a ceremonial welcome in the form of a parade that led them from a uphill pen to a sunny pond-side field. Spectators cheered and clapped for the herd as they made their way down a path that was sprinkled with daffodils and fiddle music. This year was the first year for the event, which started with the idea of the parade and was soon accompanied by other spring-celebrating activities like maypole dancing, performances by the Canterbury Morris team, fresh food from Brookford Farm and the village and a flower garland making station. The event was also free to the public. “We hope that people can see us differently,” said Burdick of Shaker Village. “We wanted to create a community event.”